Queenie
by Mac-alicious
Summary: Jay thinks it's hilarious, but Mal is not amused nor does she see the charm in it. / / or, Mal's relationship with Ben inspires a nickname and she is not pleased when it gets out. / / Ben x Mal. Oneshot.


**A/N:** So, this sight has been having a rough week (especially the last day or so), but here's a promised update. One thing off my to do list of coming soon entries. This is my second fic in this category, and it's a little more Mal x Ben oriented, with a side of the friendship between the main four. It's on the fluffy and fun side, and I kind of liked how it came out. Also, I went through almost a week of not being able to see how my stories were getting around when the traffic graph was down, so I strongly encourage you to review, even if it's just a couple of words, to let me know that you're out there. I appreciate all my readers, even if you don't review, but it's nice to know what you all think. Anyway, on with the story. Enjoy! R&R! Thanks! ~Mac

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Descendants. Or Carlos's joke, I got that off of a random site of Disney jokes.

 **Queenie**

A year ago, Mal would have laughed in the face of the idea that she would be dating the King of Auradon and beginning her new life on the side of good. Heck, a few _days_ ago, she wouldn't have believed it was possible. She has all these feelings for Ben that she's never experienced before and she's adapting. She's never been someone's girlfriend—she's only just started to acknowledge that she and the others from the Isle are _friends_ , not just accomplices—and even if she had, it would not have prepared her for being Ben's girlfriend. Love her or hate her, everyone knows who she is. She would much prefer to slip under the radar and live out a normal, quiet life with just a teensy weensy bit of magic thrown in here and there, and here, and there, and a little everywhere. That's simply not an option for her. Besides the fact that she's the daughter of Maleficent, the legendary villain that was recently turned into a very small lizard by said daughter during a live telecast, Mal is under constant public scrutiny because she is in a relationship with the King. Everything she does reflects back on her, and Ben, and their relationship. Everything she does will skew people's perception of them. So, the last thing she needs is anything else to draw more attention to her.

Mal wants to go on a date and not have to fend off unwanted stares. She wants to pretend that the hushed whispers might just be about someone else. She's not used to it. She wants to be like Ben, who has grown up in the public eye, who can dismiss stares and whispers without hesitation, who can behave so naturally as the outside world tries to knock down all the walls of privacy they've built up around them like none of it matters to him. She wants to be focused on him and his smile and that sweet tone of voice he uses when he talks to her and the way his thumb strokes her skin whenever he holds her hand. She wants nothing to matter but them. It's hard to shut out all the rest of it though, so she's glad that she can take a break from it all at the end of the day and let all the stress slide off her shoulders amongst friends.

After a particularly rough night out with Ben, Mal is glad to head straight for the boys' dorm knowing all three of her friends have most likely holed themselves up there for the night. She lets herself in and relaxes almost instantly. This welcoming sight is a balm for even the worst of days. Carlos is concentrating on the video game on the TV screen, his back to her as she enters. Evie has taken possession of Carlos's bed and has her nose in a textbook while she absentmindedly scratches Dude's head where he is curled up beside her. Jay is on his own bed, the top of his body hanging upside down over the end of it, and he's the first to notice that Mal has returned form her outing.

"How was your date, Queenie?" Jay asks.

Mal winces at the nickname Jay has taken to calling her behind closed doors as a joke. He thinks it's hilarious, but Mal is not amused nor does she see the charm in it. To her, it's a reminder of things she's not ready to think about. They all know that if this thing between her and Ben ends up being something for the storybooks, then she'll end up being a queen someday. She knows it, but she doesn't know how she feels about it, or which way she wants to got, or what will happen if ultimately she doesn't get what she wants, if she even figures out what she wants that is. So, she would rather not acknowledge it at all.

This, of course, only encourages Jay to bring it up as often as he can.

Mal groans in response, dropping her things on the table and crossing the room to throw herself onto Carlos's bed next to Evie. Her violent face plant into the pillow stirs Dude from his rest and he leaps from the bed, right out from under Evie's hand. Without the little mutt to pet, Evie switches her textbook to her other hand, so she can run her fingers over Mal's hair in a soothing manner instead.

"That good, huh?" Jay quirks an eyebrow.

Mal grumbles something incoherent into the pillows.

"It's not ladylike to mumble," Evie says.

Mal rolls over onto her back, dislodging Evie's hand from her hair, and repeats herself so they can hear her. "It was amazing as always. Ben treated me to this beautiful dinner and we were having a great time."

"And then?" Carlos looks over his shoulder, proving that he hasn't been ignoring them all entirely in favor of the video game.

"And then Ben excused himself for two minutes and I found myself with a microphone shoved in my face and a persistent princess pressuring me for an interview," Mal explains.

Evie drops her book to lay flat against her chest so she could see Mal. "Did you give her one?"

"No," Mal rolls her eyes.

"Well, at least I made sure you looked camera ready for your date," Evie says. "Just in case."

"Mmhmm," Mal purses her lips. "Why can't I have a normal date night that doesn't involve my boyfriend shooing away cameras or me having to restrain myself from cursing someone? You know, like you and Doug."

"Because I'm not dating a prince, Sweetness," Evie says. "The public at large is not quite as interested in the son of one of the Seven Dwarfs, as say, _the King_."

"Evie's got a point, Queenie," Jay adds with a grin. "That rhymes."

"Thanks for the English lesson," Mal replied. "That's the only useful thing you've said all night."

"You care about Ben, right?" Evie asks.

"Yes," Mal nods.

"You want to be with him?"

"Yes."

"You _really, truly_ want to be with him?"

" _Yes_."

"Then there are certain tradeoffs you're going to have to accept," Evie says. "Like a little extra unwanted attention."

Mal groans again. "Ugh."

"As long as your feelings for him haven't changed and he makes you feel special, then it'll be worth it in the end," Evie finishes.

Mal offers her an appreciative smile and then took a deep breath. "Man, it's getting too sentimental in here. Quick, someone tell a joke before someone starts crying or something."

"I've got one," Carlos says without taking his eyes off the TV this time. "Why couldn't Cinderella win the bicycle race?"

"Why?"

"She had a pumpkin for a coach."

Evie and Jay groan and roll their eyes, but Mal laughs, loud and clear, earning a proud smile from Carlos. It is silly and ridiculous, but this is exactly what she needed after the night she had. She's surrounded by her best friends, and, even through he's also part of her frustrations, she has a great boyfriend. This is a far better life than she could have ever wished for when they were all trapped on the Isle. All these little annoyances are something she has to learn to live with and she will if she can have this to fall back on, to raise her spirits, and to make it all worth it.

0o0

The dust has settled after the events at the Coronation. Serious conversations are being had about the Isle and what to do or not to do about the Villains and their children still contained there. The miniaturized Maleficent is under constant supervision in locked down security. And Mal and her friends are trying their best to keep out of trouble as they return to Auradon Prep for the rest of the school year. There are some whispers and some sidelong glances, but other than that, it's mostly smooth sailing.

Mal has settled into a comfortable routine. Now that they're out of that god awful Remedial Goodness sham of a class, she's actually starting to enjoy absorbing everything they have to teach her. All the good kids are more receptive to being around her and her friends, and the ones that are still wary pretend to be, because they want to stay in the good graces of the King's girlfriend. Half the time, Mal could be found in one of the school's common areas in the midst of a study session with a various collection of friends and acquaintances.

On his particular sunny afternoon, Mal and Evie are studying out on the lunch benches with a few other girls. They are enjoying the beautiful weather while they focus on their academics—it's a splendid tradeoff. Mal is so pleased with how her day has gone that she is certain that nothing can ruin it. With that thought, she manages to jinx herself without any magic of the conventional sense.

Her penalty comes in the form of Jay bounding over to her table, slightly out of breath and already running his mouth faster than his legs.

"Hey, Queenie, have you seen your boyfriend? Coach just called an emergency meeting," Jay bursts out. It takes him only a second to realize his mistake, as Mal glares at him with wide eyes and pinched lips.

The girl across from Mal, whose name and lineage escapes Jay at the moment, catches his slip with record speed and her eyes widen. She grins and flings out a squealed exclamation, " _Queenie?_ Oh my goodness, that's so adorably perfect!"

"I don't think it's perfect, per se," Evie pipes up, trying to recover the situation as Mal is unable to stop glaring at the now slowly backing away Jay.

"Oh it's perfect," the girl insists. She latches onto Jane beside her. "Isn't it perfect, Jane?"

Jane lets out a short eep at the other girl's grip and nods her head vigorously, but otherwise makes no sound.

"I'm not sure..." Evie tries to break in again and fails.

Jay has turned and booked it in the opposite direction, but Mal is still staring at the place he vacated.

" _Queenie!_ It's so darling. How did we not think of it before?" the girl continues to babble. "She might be our Queen one day after all, _will be_ , fingers crossed."

"It's not too on the nose…?" Evie bobs side to side as she slowly runs out of steam in her arguments.

Now all the other girls have gotten in on it, tossing around the new nickname wildly and gabbing about why it's the most endearing and flawless nickname they've ever heard. Studying has become an afterthought, and soon everyone has wandered off, likely to spread around what has happened, leaving only Evie and Mal at the table.

Evie stares out at the now empty benches with her brow furrowed. "Turns out it doesn't have to be a fairytale to become a tale as old as time."

Mal shows her first signs of life by groaning so violently and loud, that she could have given Ben and his Dad a run for their money, and dropping her head with a thump onto the table.

"I'm going to _kill_ Jay," Mal mutters.

"Good people don't kill," Evie chimes in.

Mal opens her mouth.

"They don't maim either," Evie cuts her off. On second thought, she also adds quickly, "Or curse! Especially not that one."

"Humph," Mal moans.

"It's not a big deal," Evie says, reaching out to stroke Mal's hair. "It's just a silly nickname. It'll blow over by morning."

0o0

By morning, it blows over about as much as Mal had expected, which is to say, _not at all_. It hasn't just gotten out there, it's caught on. Suddenly, it's a thing. It's _the_ thing. And isn't that just terrific?

Mal thought it was annoying when Jay said it, but she hadn't heard it called out to her from across the courtyard by someone who she had never even had greet her by her real name. Now she has. It takes it all to another level of vexation. One that has her almost to her boiling point.

Jay doesn't apologize because he won't come close enough to Mal for her to hear it. He does smile sheepishly at her from afar—so far that she almost needs Evie's magic mirror to see it—his lips tight and his eyes betraying his fear for the next week. Which is almost an "I'm sorry" on his terms.

Mal's not angry at him, irked maybe, but not angry. He hadn't meant to let it slip out in front of other people. It was an accident. Sure, it is his fault for getting in the habit of exclusively referring to her as _that word_ which obviously raised the likelihood of him saying it in public, but everyone makes mistakes. Forgiveness is a part of being good. Jay is one of her closest friends; if she can't forgive him, then how could she forgive anyone?

Well, she forgives him, but she's still having trouble doing the same for everyone else.

If Mal hadn't publicly declared her desire to be good, this sort of thing might have sent her on a rampage cursing everyone in Auradon that dares call her it. She sort of still wants to and probably would if she didn't have such good self control. But that's just the villain in her. She is a hair's breadth away from setting fire to everything and anyone in sight over a _silly nickname_ and it's not even anything bad, it's actually kind of positive and hopeful as irritating as it is. And suddenly she realizes how petty the reasons were that the big bads went, well, bad.

 _"They didn't invite me to their party."_

 _"My stepdaughter is younger and prettier than me."_

 _"The princess wouldn't marry me so I could be Sultan."_

 _"They wouldn't let me skin their dogs, even though I offered to_ _ **pay them generously**_ **.** _The fools."_

Mal has to find it in herself to be better than those fleeting emotions and silly instigators, because she _is_ a good person. She is better than any old nickname. She can rise above. It's just hard and exhausting and she doesn't wanna—but she will. If she has learned anything from her mother it's how to be strong, how to be stronger than the will of others, how to be stronger than her own doubts and occasional pessimism. So, she's going to take that lesson to heart, eventually it'll pay off.

0o0

"I think it's safe to assume that you're not a fan of _the nickname_ ," Ben says on their next date. He's taken to referring to it only as _the nickname_. The one time he started to repeat it—not to call her it, but to question it's existence—he only got the first half of the word out and she narrowed her eyes so quickly that he nearly choked on the second half.

They're lying side by side on a blanket beside the Enchanted Lake, where they had their first date. It's the only place that they can go together without attracting an audience. With all the chatter going around the past week, this privacy is exactly what Mal needs. So, _of course_ , Ben waits until now to broach this subject.

"I was not a fan when it was just Jay calling me it behind closed doors as a joke between friends. Now that everyone _and their mother_ is calling me it like it's my actual name, I loathe it with every fiber of my being," Mal says. "But it's _cute_ , you know? So why should it bother me?"

"It's okay to let people know it bothers you," Ben replies. "No one is trying to make you uncomfortable on purpose, but that doesn't mean they aren't. They just won't know that they are unless you tell them."

Mal sighs and frowns slightly. "I'm afraid if I say something, I won't be able to stop at saying something."

"You've gone this long without saying anything at all, I think you could restrain yourself," Ben says.

"You have faith in me," Mal says. It's not a question, but he answers it anyway.

"I do," Ben nods, shifting so that he's propped up on his elbow and looking down at her. He uses his other hand to stroke her cheek. "I think it's time you had a little faith in yourself. You've already proven that you can do amazing things. Believe in yourself and nothing anyone says or calls you will matter in the grand scheme of things."

One corner of Mal's mouth twitches upward in a half smile. "You know that it's the sidekick that's usually the voice of reason, not the hero."

Ben smiles back at her. "Maybe I'm not the hero." His thumb strokes her cheek again. "This is your story, Mal. I'm just glad that you want me along for the ride."

"Are you sure you're from the right family? Because that line was smooth enough for a Charming," Mal jokes.

Ben laughs and smothers her next sarcastic jab with a kiss. Mal figures there's a little truth to the old 'kiss it better' phenomena that was never part of her life on the Isle. She needs to take the highs with the lows, because Evie is right. This is worth it all.

0o0

If this thing is going to stick, Mal decides that she's gonna _own it_.

She gets the idea on the way back from her date with Ben. Instead of joining her friends to vent about her date as she has in the past, she offers Evie a project that prompts her friend to giggle with glee and bounce around the room collecting materials. Evie stays up far too late putting the finishing touches on it, but by morning she has deemed it perfect and Mal has to agree. It becomes the centerpiece of her next day's outfit.

It's a silly ornament to match a silly nickname. It puts everyone's eyes on her, but that's exactly what it's meant to do. It draws everyone's attention, so that Mal can demonstrate that she doesn't care. She doesn't care if they stare, she doesn't care if they whispers, she doesn't care if they call her Mal or Queenie or something else entirely—she doesn't care, because she's _happy_. She's happy because she knows who she is and what she's capable of, she knows she has friends who care about her even if they make up stupid nicknames and leak them to the public, and she knows she has a boyfriend who likes her quite a bit and might just love her someday—and she might just love him too.

No one mentions Mal's new accessory, although they all notice it and continue to call her Queenie while trying not to look at it.

That is until Audrey approaches her by her locker. Audrey nods her head toward the thing and says, "Nice touch."

"I figured it was fitting," Mal replies, adjusting the way it sits on her head.

"A crown for Queenie?" Audrey says. "There's nothing more fitting. I'll admit I adore it. I almost wish I thought of it while I was dating Ben. Oh well, suppose it's better I didn't. Never would have lived down being dethroned."

Mal forces a smile. "I should go. I'm meeting Ben for lunch."

"See you around, Queenie," Audrey winks as Mal passes her by.

Ben is waiting for her at their usual lunch table, but when he sees her he gets up and meets her halfway. He is grinning ear to ear as he takes her in, crown and all. He shakes his head slightly, perhaps in disbelief or to keep himself from chuckling. For whatever reason, he only stops when he reaches for the handmade but exquisitely crafted crown that Evie made. He tilts it askew, so that it half slips down the side of her head. His actions cause laughter to bubble up in her throat. It's all ridiculous, a fake crown for a fake title, but then again this thing between them has always been a little ridiculous. Why would that ever change? Maybe it's better that it doesn't, because crowns and titles aside, this moment between them is real and that's all that matters.

"Since you're letting everyone else get away with it," Ben says when their laughter subsides. "Can I call you _it_ now?"

Mal shakes her head.

"Why not?" Ben asks.

"You might have to wait until you actually make me your queen," Mal says. It's supposed to be meant as a joke, but it comes out far more serious than she intends. She panics for a second as Ben mulls it over just as seriously as she said it.

"Deal," he says. Then he grins and she's relieved.

Mal takes a deep breath and agrees. "Deal."

Perhaps the nickname isn't so bad after all. It's still not funny, but she can, maybe, sort of see it's charm now.

-fin-


End file.
